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This study examines whether behavior problems reported by the self and others are associated prospectively with executive function in adolescence and whether these behaviors mediate the association between family and neighborhood socioeconomic status and executive function. Participants (N = 4,164) from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) reported their behaviors at ages 10-11; mothers, fathers, and teachers also rated participants' behaviors. Four years later, participants completed an executive function battery that measured attention, working memory, and error monitoring. As rated by the self, mother, father, and teacher, hyperactivity and emotional symptoms had the most consistent associations with worse performance on the executive function tasks. The associations were generally similar across the four reporters. Hyperactivity mediated the association between family SES in childhood and adolescent executive function. None of the behaviors mediated the association between neighborhood SES and executive function. The present research suggests that behavior problems prospectively predict executive function in adolescence and may be one mechanism of the relation between family SES and executive function., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Unfair treatment on the basis of a physical characteristic, such as body weight, is associated with unhealthy dieting behaviors in adolescence and adulthood and has also been implicated in substance use. Peer victimization is likewise associated with these health-risk behaviors. It is unclear, however, whether body discrimination is associated with these behaviors independent of peer victimization. The present research uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to test the relation between body discrimination and dieting and substance use behaviors in adolescence and test whether the associations are independent of peer victimization, as well as depressive symptoms which are associated with both forms of victimization and health-risk behaviors. Participants (N = 2955) reported on body discrimination, dieting behaviors, and substance use at ages 14-15. Participants who experienced body discrimination were more likely to report fear of gaining weight, losing control over eating, going without eating, using medicine or vomiting to control their weight, engaging in restrained eating, and exercising to control their weight. They also had tried nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana. The associations with eating and alcohol use were independent of peer victimization, whereas the associations with smoking and marijuana were reduced when peer victimization was included in the model. All associations were also independent of depressive symptoms. Overall, the findings suggest that body discrimination is associated with harmful health behaviors at least as early as age 14., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)